{"id":4716,"date":"2025-01-10T19:19:12","date_gmt":"2025-01-10T19:19:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/meet-the-new-members-a-kamala-harris-protegee-rises\/"},"modified":"2025-01-10T19:19:12","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T19:19:12","slug":"meet-the-new-members-a-kamala-harris-protegee-rises","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/meet-the-new-members-a-kamala-harris-protegee-rises\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the new members: A Kamala Harris protegee rises"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

The new member: <\/b>Rep. Lateefah Simon (D-Calif.)<\/p>\n

How they got here: <\/b>Simon bested a fellow Democrat, Jennifer Tran, in the general election for this solidly Democratic seat based in Oakland. She won 65 percent to 35 percent.<\/p>\n

Inside the campaign: <\/b>Simon was a heavy favorite in this contest after jumping into the race to replace long-time Bay Area Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) in February 2023. (Lee ran unsuccessfully for Senate.)<\/p>\n

She got a major boost when Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom backed her candidacy to succeed Lee<\/u><\/a> in a statement to Blue Light News in November 2023. Simon emerged well ahead of the rest of the pack in the March 2024 primary with 55 percent of the vote.<\/p>\n

The issues she\u2019ll focus on:<\/b> Simon has said she wants to be an advocate for people without political power \u2014 a mission she\u2019s focused on throughout more than two decades in public service. That includes expanding access to disability services, building more affordable housing and expanding access to health care.<\/p>\n

Expect a continuation of Lee\u2019s outspoken progressive record throughout Simon\u2019s time in Congress. \u201cI\u2019m a deep blue Democrat and I still am a deep mentee to Vice President Harris,\u201d Simon said upon reaching the Capitol for new member orientation<\/u><\/a>. \u201cWe\u2019re going to fight for the lifeblood of our people. I\u2019m here not just to serve, but to lead.\u201d<\/p>\n

Background:<\/b> Simon\u2019s benefitted from the mentorship of both Lee \u2014 she passed Simon a literal baton to her congressional seat \u2014 and Vice President Kamala Harris<\/u><\/a>. She worked under Harris for about four years when the future vice president was San Francisco district attorney.<\/p>\n

More recently, Simon served on the Bay Area Rapid Transit board of directors and was also a member of the board of trustees of the California State University system. She\u2019s also been an outspoken advocate for racial and civil rights across a variety of organizations in the Bay Area.<\/p>\n

Campaign ad that caught our eye: <\/b>Simon ran an ad<\/u><\/a> promising to \u201clock arms\u201d with Harris on initiatives like banning assault weapons and ensuring public safety.<\/p>\n

Of note: <\/b>She\u2019ll become one of the few openly blind members of Congress to ever serve.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re spotlighting new members during the transition. Want more? <\/i>Meet Rep. Maggie Goodlander.<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The new member: Rep. Lateefah Simon (D-Calif.) How they got here: Simon bested a fellow Democrat, Jennifer Tran, in the general election for this solidly Democratic seat based in Oakland. She won 65 percent to 35 percent. Inside the campaign: Simon was a heavy favorite in this contest after jumping into the race to replace […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4716"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4716\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}